00:00later in the year, and I hope that will help to address the issue that you've noted.
00:05James Evans.
00:06James Evans AM First Minister, recent cases have highlighted
00:09challenges faced by individuals with severe allergies in Wales, such as families resorting
00:14to testing food on their children in hospital car parks due to a lack of specialist allergy
00:19services across Wales.
00:21According to Allergy UK, 61 per cent of individuals feel there is insufficient Government support
00:26for allergy sufferers.
00:27Furthermore, WalesFed data indicates a growing need for emergency treatments, like adrenaline
00:32auto-injectors, and better allergy care infrastructure.
00:36Could you outline today, First Minister, what the Welsh Government is doing to expand specialist
00:41allergy services across Wales, and improving access to emergency treatment, like EpiPens,
00:47and also ensuring that public facilities, like schools and community facilities and
00:50venues across Wales, are trained to handle severe allergic reactions within our populations?
00:55Carwyn Jones AM Thanks very much, and welcome to your new
00:58portfolio.
00:59I hope you don't like sleeping too muchóit'll keep you awake a lot at night.
01:06Just to be clear, we are very well aware that the allergy support across Wales varies a
01:13lot, and that's why what we've done is we've undertaken a scoping exercise to better understand
01:19where the gaps are in terms of provision.
01:21We've appointed Professor Chris Fegan to undertake this work, so that work is being
01:28undertaken as we speak.
01:29So, all schools are provided with guidance and are trained to recognise the signs and
01:35symptoms which trigger, in particular, those life-threatening medical conditions, and they
01:41need to know what happens in an emergency, and they need to know how to administer an
01:45EpiPen.
01:46That is being done in our schools already.
01:52As you know, we have free school meals in primary schools, and there is a sensitivity
01:56around that as well, which needs to take into account the dietary needs of learners.
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